Disney to go light on Disney+ ads

Disney is set to take a lighter approach to advertising when it is introduced to Disney+ later this year.

In March, the company said that it is planning to introduce an ad-supported version of Disney+ in the US in late 2022, with plans to expand internationally in 2023. The company already has plenty of experience in integrating ads with an SVOD, with this being a key business model of Hulu.

According to reports from Variety and The Wall Street Journal, Disney officials have decided on about four minutes of ads per hour. 

For comparison, a report from MediaRadar earlier this year found that Paramount+ is the biggest streaming offender with an average of 23.8 ads per hour, while NBCUniversal-owned Peacock is the lowest at 8.7 ads per hour.

Furthermore, Disney has decided not to run ads during programming targeted towards preschool-aged children, with preschool profiles not showing ads at all. This is a decision likely informed by the controversies that have faced YouTube, with the Google-owned platform both sued and fined for violating children’s privacy.

Rita Ferro, Disney’s president of ad sales and partnerships, stated that “we’re never going to collect data on individual kids to target them.”

The WSJ report adds that Disney is seeking about US$50-60 cost per thousand (CPM), a relatively high price considering that buyers cannot put their ads against specific programming.

The Variety report meanwhile said that Disney’s ad-team is being cautious in who it partners with in order to preserve its family-friendly image. As such, the report notes that Disney+ has told advertisers that it will not accept alcohol or political advertising and, unlike some of its rivals, it will not take ads from other outlets or entertainment studios.

Disney is not the only SVOD that will offer an ad-supported option by the end of 2022, with Netflix set to introduce its ad-supported tier by the end of the year.